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Reykjavik in Iceland has shot up 39 places in the popularity table according to Kayak to become the fifth most searched destination for flights.

This increase is most likely down to a fall in the average price of flights to Reykjavik, which have halved - from £175 to just £89, thanks to an increased number of flights from the UK to the Icelandic capital.

Searches for the Greek islands of Crete and Corfu were up 345 per cent and 238 per cent respectively, suggesting more Britons are heading there after falling out of favour in recent years.

MOST POPULAR DESTINATIONS WITH THE BIGGEST PRICE FALLS

Destination

Average price Q2 2016 from all UK airports

Change in price compared to Q2 2015

Crete

£63

-67%

Corfu

£70

-62%

Milan

£60

-58%

Ibiza

£78

-58%

Pisa

£65

-55%

Reykjavik

£89

-49%

Venice

£74

-47%

Marrakesh

£98

-42%

Copenhagen

£54

-42%

Faro

£93

-41%

Palma de Mallorca

£95

-37%

Dublin

£52

-35%

Istanbul

£126

-30%

Budapest

£105

-30%

Luqa

£128

-29%

Amsterdam

£87

-25%

Berlin

£95

-24%

Rome

£103

-23%

MOST POPULAR DESTINATIONS BY RANK AND HOW PRICES HAVE FALLEN

Most popular destinations

Average return flight cost

Price fall since last year

Position in popularity table last year

1. New York

£415

-9%

-

2. Amsterdam

£87

-25%

2

3. Barcelona

£114

-18%

-

4. Bangkok

£407

-7%

-2

5. Reykjavik

£89

-49%

39

6. Faro

£93

-41%

13

7. Dubai

£306

-15%

-2

8. Palma de Mallorca

£95

-37%

9

9. Malaga

£127

-15%

-3

10. Rome

£103

-23%

-

11. Ibiza

£78

-58%

14

12. Dublin

£52

-35%

-3

13. Paris

£93

-22%

-2

14. Alicante

£133

-12%

-1

15. Milan

£60

-58%

13

16. Los Angeles

£541

2%

-9

17. Lisbon

£140

-1%

-1

18. Madrid

£96

-22%

-4

19. Berlin

£95

-24%

-8

20. Orlando

£467

-6%

-5

Kayak says the growing interest has been largely stoked by falling prices, with the average return flight to Crete now £63 and Corfu £70.

In addition to Crete and Corfu, there were three further new entries into the top 50 destinations Britons were searching.

Corfu bargains: According to Kayak, a return to Corfu could be bagged for an average of £70 when searching for April and June

Pisa was the highest new entry, coming in at 23 on the list and fuelled by a 55 per cent decrease in average flight prices. It is joined by Denpasar in Bali at number 36 and Naples 47.

Other destinations that have become far cheaper to fly to include Faro, where average flight prices are down 41 per cent and Ibiza, down 58 per cent.

Kayak says that the tumble in prices is thanks to a number of factors coming together - competition between airlines, lower fuel costs for planes and fluctuating demand for flights.

Annie Wilson, travel expert at Kayak, said: 'We've noticed a significant fall in flight prices when compared to the same time period last year, which underlines our findings from our previous quarterly flight price index, suggesting that this trend seems to be here to stay.

'Searches indicate that Britons are reacting to and taking advantage of the decline in prices to destinations which have seen strong average drops in the price of flights.

'So now may be a good time to travel to "hot" destinations such as Reykjavik, Faro and Ibiza.

'Also notable was the fall of the previously popular long-haul destinations in the US and India.

'It is likely they have fallen victim to the increased trend amongst UK holidaymakers for more frequent, shorter holidays - this is backed up by our findings that travel searches to EU countries have increased by 15 per cent in 2016 when compared to 2015.

'With the pound falling against both the rupee and dollar due to Brexit, it may be a while before we see the popularity of these countries bounce back.'

Iceland surge: Reykjavik has become the fifth most popular place to search out flights, according to Kayak

Despite New York remaining the most searched-for travel destination, Los Angeles and Las Vegas both saw significant falls in searches, dropping from 7th to 16th and 18th to 30th place respectively.

The Indian locations of Mumbai and New Delhi saw even more significant falls, dropping 22 and 19 places respectively. Chicago, Sydney, Munich, Johannesburg and Washington disappeared from the top 50 entirely.

Just three locations in the entire top 50 saw an increase in flight costs, while only one remained the same – meaning that 46 destinations are now cheaper.

Vibrant Portugal: Flight prices to Lisbon have risen in the last year - but only slightly

The only three cities where the average price of a flight increased slightly are Lisbon, Nice and Singapore while Tokyo remained the same.

The research looked at flight prices for travellers looking to travel between April to June 2016 against the same period last year.

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